Recently read Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, a novel set in a futuristic society (maybe ~100 years from now) in China. Whether this book presents a dystopian or utopian vision is unclear, maybe it shows both, although the dystopian aspects (callous brutality, pervasive misogyny) are more salient.
Background (no spoilers):
In this society, nanotechnology has become the dominant means of production. (Many buildings are built out of man-made diamond because it is hard and durable, hence the title). Stephenson's novel is Marxist in that he posits a world in which the social structure arises from the means of production. Matter Compilers, or MCs, create food, clothes, etc. using molecular blueprints downloaded from a central government server. This top-down means of production makes poor people dependent on the government for their existence.
Most people are divided into phyles (aka claves) which are essentially tribes which live together in different parts of the city. One prominent phyle is that of the "Vickys" - neo-Victorians who have consciously adopted Victorian dress, mannerisms and social codes, believing that this is preferable to the amoral degeneracy of prior centuries (i.e. our time). The poor are the exception to this structure; they have no phyles, and lead lives that are nasty, brutish and short.
Nanotechnology has also become a means of ugly warfare and supports a bizarre justice system which combines Confucian principles with nanotech-based methods of execution. Rogue nanotech experts develop their own micromachines in defiance of the government's prohibition, and use them to spy, track, and kill.
My take on it:
I really, really enjoyed the first half of this book. Stephenson's vision is brilliant: complex, detailed, strikingly creative and novel, and powerful. It is also very pleasurable to read. However, I found the second half of the book chaotic and the ending unrealistic and anticlimactic. I was also troubled by the book's at times graphic misogyny, which does not seem to serve any purpose beyond reinforcing the brutality of the world. However, I highly recommend it because it is truly novel and gripping and introduces many fascinating ideas.
Stephenson's Novels
Stephenson's Novels
- The Big U (1984)
- Zodiac (1988)
- Snow Crash (1992)
- Interface (1994)
- The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1995)
- The Cobweb (1996)
- Cryptonomicon (1999)
- The Baroque Cycle
- Quicksilver (2003), volume I
- The Confusion (2004), volume II
- The System of the World (2004), volume III
- Anathem (2008)
- The Mongoliad (2010–2012)
- Reamde + Colin's review (2011)
I also highly recommend this book; it's one of the works that I may work on for my thesis. I agree with lauren that one of best aspects of the work is Stephenson's plausible and creative vision of the nanotech future, and although I think that the end of the book is less strong, I think the themes of the latter half are important to the work as a whole in the way that, as Benjamin might say, it dreams the epoch to come (that is, the book theorizes the diamond age which necessarily contains within itself the seeds of its own dialectical reversal).
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